Kumar Sangakkara Joins KKR to Replace Guatam Gambhir

The reigning IPL champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, are poised to appoint Kumar Sangakkara as their mentor following Gautam Gambhir's transition to head coach of the Indian national team. Gambhir served Lucknow Super Giants as a mentor in the 2022 and 2023 IPL campaigns before rejoining KKR as their mentor in 2024. His brief tenure brought immense success to KKR, as they dominated every team to claim the prestigious domestic T20 league title.

This year's IPL victory marked the third for both KKR and Gambhir, with the first two achieved under Gambhir's captaincy. This has fostered a deep bond between KKR fans and their former mentor. When Sangakkara joins KKR, he will need to step into Gambhir's substantial role. After the dominating campaign KKR had, the expectations will be high from the board as well as fans.

However, Sangakkara is one of the biggest cricket names, with a good track record. He was Rajasthan Royal’s director of cricket from 2021. During his tenure, the Royals consistently performed well, became one of the most entertaining sides, and even reached a final.

As per reports, Kumar Sangakkara will step down from his role and join KKR after RR appointed Rahul Dravid as their head coach. Dravid recently stepped down from India’s head coach, after ending India’s ICC trophy drought by winning the T20 World Cup. Vikram Rathour is also expected to partner Rahul Dravid to join RR. He was a key part of Dravid’s coaching team during his tenure as India’s head coach.

With the expected arrival of Kumar Sangakkara, KKR is still in need of appointing a completely new coaching team. This is because Abhishek Nayar has also joined Gambhir’s coaching team, while Ryan ten Doeschate, a fan favorite has also departed to become India’s fielding coach.

With the big-name outgoings, Knight Rider’s board has a huge task in their hands to appoint the right candidates to replicate their on-field success in the upcoming IPL seasons.